回复：【长篇阅读】公子的传记

MGM personnel had one problem—Eleanor Parker. She was to appear in the movie with Taylor and had just arrived in Cloverdale, apparently unaware that Bob had gotten married. No one knew for sure, however, and there was a serious discussion as to who should invite Eleanor to the party. Some brave soul volunteered and approached her about attending the “wedding celebration” for Bob and Ursula Taylor.
Miss Parker’s pleasant expression faded and she remained in a state of shock during the festivities, looking pale and close to tears for several days.
Bob told a friend years later just how close Eleanor came to breaking up his marriage that was only a few weeks old. Exactly what he meant is not known.
Under the circumstances it is surprising that Many River to Cross was successful: Eleanor Parker was with Bob daily while he was honeymooning with Ursula.
But this picture also proved Taylor’s flair for comedy.

His tramping around like a Kentucky trapper, who could care less about his shotgun bride trailing him through the backwoods, was quite funny.
Many River to Cross was “slapstick in buckskin” and everyone had to chuckle during the last scene when “Bushrod” Taylor struggled with an Indian and “Mary Stuar” Parker kept getting in the way.
Unfortunately for the public this was the last movie Taylor made with Eleanor Parker. Of all his leading ladies, everyone agreed that she complimented him the most on the screen.

Chapter Ⅺ
Not only did Eleanor Parker show her disappointment, but the Taylor-Thiess marriage was quite a blow to Barbara Stanwyck also. She said publicly that she has been carrying a torch for Bob all along. She repeated once again, “There will be no other man in my life!”
Many people said they thought Bob had been confused for some time as to whether he should reconcile with Barbara or marry Ursula.
Taylor’s unusual concern about his image as a motion picture personality was astounding. This was the strongest force in his life. He wanted to make the public think of his as a clean-living guy and not the typical Hollywood gadabout. There would be no scandal, no stories of his getting drunk and cursing waiters, no indication that he was runnig around with women, no elaborate houses that made good publicity photos in Modern Screen, no speeding automobiles and traffic tickets, no expensive cars that could be recognized as belonging to a movie star—and never any derogatory reference to anyone.

But divorce was a mark against him—a sign of weakness and failure. He had been accused of adultery and his wife had wept on the witness stand that he wanted to be free with no restrictions. His so-called mistress had made her statement to the world-wide press that “Bob was tired of Barbara”—a cruel thing to do to someone as admired as Miss Barbara Stanwyck.
He wanted the world to see that he respected her, and in no way wished to hurt her. She glowed with happiness when they were together after the divorce and if it meant he could have erased the bitterness he would have gone back to Barbara to prove he was a decent human being who had not been touched by the usual temptations of Hollywood.
For five sour years before Barbara divorced him, he tried to hold on, and when she made it apparent that for once in her life she was willing to forget an injustice, Taylor brought forth every emotion he could muster—moonlight and roses, wine and music, but all were ineffective.
The fact that he met and fell in love with Ursula had nothing to do with his situation involving Barbara. He had almost married Eleanor Parker but was able to walk away from it. She had remarried, but Barbara was alone now that Dion was in school and she had not dated anyone.

His guilt was the strongest threat to his happiness during his courtship with Ursula. He refused to give in to the fact that he was human after all. Being a perfectionist, he worked for perfection and expected everyone else to do likewise. He had no pity for those who gave up easily. “If you find at the beginning of any undertaking that you cannot be one of the best, then don’t get involved!” He loved golf, but was never good at it, so he gave it up.
Taylor’s impulse to marry Ursula three weeks after their engagement was not unusual for him. The decision to give her the ring after keeping it for such a long time was. Asking Tom for advice was only his way of getting assurance to do something he knew he was going to do anyway. Why wait for the inevitable?
There were a few similarities between Ursula and Barbara—lonely and emotional childhoods, poverty during their early lives, strength, and divorce, but their differences were innumerable.

Ursula was undeniably Taylor’s type of woman. She was above all a wife, and believed that her man was the head of the household who made all the decisions. At least that is what she allowed him to believe in the beginning. She learned to hunt and fish, loved the outdoors and enjoyed flying with Bob. Because of him she became accustomed to horses and rode well.
She did her own marketing and preferred to keep house herself.
She will tell you that it was her European influence that made her what she was to Taylor—the contentment to spend time alone together rather than with other people, the outdoors and casual living, the homemade cooking. Bob was the only important thing in her life. He came first.
When they returned to Hollywood following Bob’s work in Many River to Cross, they settled in Ursula’s tiny house with her ten-year-old daughter, Manuela. Bob hung his clothes in the dining room.

The movie industry was suffering from the effects of television and was at its peak of decline in 1954.Taylor would read at least a dozen scripts before accepting one. He said he would not make a movie that would offend even a child. “If MGM demanded I do a film, I did it even if it was a bad one . . . meaning a poor script. Temperament is not my cup of tea. It just doesn’t come naturally to me.
“Sometimes I wish I could give the studio a pot-full of trouble, but the things that upset me are usually not worth raising hell about.
“Also I don’t know enough about motion picture technique to consider directing—though it is written in my contract that I can.
“Acting is the only thing I know much aboutand I like it. I’m not dedicated to it, however, in the sense of ‘ living my whole life’ as an actor.”

Taylor was making ＄6,000 a week and his name on a marquee was still box office insurance for any movies. He signed another six-year contract with MGM in January, 1955. It included also a six-year extension so that the money could be paid off during a twelve-year period.
Ursula, still under contract to RKO , was still drawing ＄2,300 a month and obligated to do two more movies for them. Bob was opposed to her filming Bandido because he wasn’t too fond of Robert Mitchum, her co-star. However, she went ahead because of her obligation to the studio and completed her career as an actress in Americano.
Taylor was assigned to portray Quentin Durwood, the film version of Sir Walter Scott’s novel. Comments on this movie varied. “Mr. Taylor did much better by Sir Walter when he did Ivanhoe.” And, “Mr. Robert Taylor is playing the heroic role of a high-minded champion of fair ladies and it is beginning to be a trifle dull!”
MGM finally agreed, and this was the end of The Knight in Shinning Armor era for Taylor, which didn’t bother him at all.

At once he was sent to South Dakota to make The Last Hunt, the story of buffalo hunters, with Stewart Granger, Lloyd Nolan and Debra Paget.
He wanted Ursula to go with him. Knowing he would be working on location most of the time, Taylor would not make the same mistake twice. He was not going to have a part-time marriage this time.
But Ursula announced she was pregnant!
Taylor called Tom. “Can’t tell you, ol’ Bud, how I feel right now. Ursula is going to have a baby and I’m speechless. God damn, I never knew a guy like me could get so excited over something that happens all the time. She’s calm and I’m goin’ out of my mind. Isn’t that somethin’? Can’t believe it . . . ”
Tom couldn’t get a word in. “Dilly just kept talkin’ on and on. I’d start to say something and he’d interrupt—chattering like no one ever had a baby before!”
Before he hung up, Taylor said, “I’ll tell ya somethin’, Tom. The best thing I ever did was marry Ursula!”

The director was a talented man and Taylor didn’t want to cause any friction, offend him, or “pull rank.”
“George, got an idea. Tomorrow we’ll take him to lunch but we’ll go someplace about twenty-five miles from here. I’lldrive and you get him to sit in the middle. Use all the dirtiest words you can think of and dream up some more!”
The three men started out the following day. Taylor and Nichols talked rapidly, not giving the director a chance to get a word in. He sat in the middle listening to the conversation between Taylor and Nichols, especially stunned at Bob’s foul tongue. When they arrived at the restaurant,Taylor made unusually fresh remarks to the waitress, who appeared hurt and insulted.
Nichols followed, ignoring the director. Bob told some filthy jokes loud enough for everyone to hear. One man gave them a sour look and Taylor turned to him and said, “If you don’t like it, move your ass to another table!”The man started to say something but was told what he could do.
Taylor kept his hat on and pulled it down far enough so that he was apparently not recognized.

He sent the food back and called the cook a God damn son of a bitch bastard. He pinched the waitress on her fanny and made a few jokes about that too.
Driving back to location the conversation continued. The director got the message. From then on, he said nothing more offensive.
Taylor said he would never make a movie that the whole family could not see, and he never did. (“Do your drinkin’, screwin’ and swearin’ when the public isn’t around!”)
Ursula never used vulgar words—quite unlike Barbara—but accepted with ease the off-color jokes and man-talk when she was with Bob and his buddies.
Taylor’s life with Ursula did not change. She merely gave him back his original perosnality. Many of Taylor’s friends said they admired him because of his unusual love for her and for not being afraid to show masculine sweetness and love openly.

She was the one person he complimented often, which intrigued his buddies. They said most men would not consider it manly to shower so much love and admiration on a woman, but Taylor was direct with his feelings. “I don’t know what I would do without her. It is like a wonderful dream. She’s simple in her wants, understanding, and raised in the tradition that the husband is the breadwinner and head of the house. I think this is important for a marriage to succeed.
“You mustn’t allow dissatisfaction. When there’s a first break in a marriage, it’s like a hole in a dyke . . . keeps getting bigger and bigger . . .”

Terrance known as Terry, was born on June18, 1955. He was Bob’s pride and joy. However, Manuela Thiess ran away from home because she resented the appearance of a new child in the house. Though she was found and returned, Manuela was never truly happy.
The day Terry was born, Barbara Stanwyck was making a movie. The announcement that Robert Taylor had become a father of a baby boy was made over a loudspeaker.
Barbara burst into tears. An observer said, “At first we thought she was overcome with joy, but I think she was genuinely hurt. Barbara was always good at covering up her emotions, but she had no control this time. Everybody was happy for Bob, but Barbara wasn’t smiling. She was jealous, I think. Call it what you will, she wasn’t herself.”

Soon after the birth of Terry, Ursula and Bob moved into their new home in Pacific Palisades. Eleven-year-old Michael Thiess came over from Germany and joined the family.
Taylor appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show and accepted the first Winchester Award as Outdoorsman of the Year. A special symbol of the award was the presentation of a milestone in Winchester history—the 1,500,000th Model-12 shotgun engraved in gold and fitted to Taylor’s measurements.
Winchester reported that before Taylor was chosen, some of the best shooters at Winchester had hunted with him to find out exactly how good he was. “He’s not only an excellent shot with a rifle but he is one of the finest wing shots we have ever seen. Taylor is also an excellent horseman, pilot, woodsman and dog handler.”
A framed sheepskin certificate announcing the award stated:
“Winchester in recognition of his skills in the field and devotion to the outdoors herewith names Robert Taylor OUTDOORSMAN OF THE YEAR 1954 as the man who through his prominence and personal example has done most to increase interest in our American heritage of good marksmanship and sportsmanship in the field.”

A few years ago he had been voted the most popular male star in all countries abroad by the Hollywood Press Association, representing 500 million moviegoers in the world, and in 1951 he was given Harvard’s Lampoon Award for the worst acting that year in Quo Vadis. “By Golly,” he said, “I finally won an award and I never worked harder in my life!”
He did not retire to his den and trophies, however. He hid them, which irritated Ursula. When a friend came to the house and asked to see a plaque he had gotten for something, Taylor would look dumbfounded. “Gee, I don’t know where the hell I put that thing . . .”
There was one award he would not accept—Gable’s throne. When The King left MGM, everyone said Taylor was the undisputed King, but Bob was adamant. “This business has given me everything I have today—except Gable’s throne. Nobody can fill that!”